How Great Is The Sin Of The Church?

A blogger on the "open forum" said...
"Anyone hear Chuck Swindoll this a.m.? He stood before his people broken hearted and humbled to the point of tears - not because of any personal sin but because of the sin of adultery of two of his staff members. It was obvious his heart was breaking over sin that broke the heart of God. He made it clear that both had been immediately released from their jobs, and he made no excuses for them nor sympathized with them. He then gave a powerful message to his people on the consequences of sin against a holy God, and he encouraged their hearts for the days ahead. The service was ended with both congregation and choir singing all 4 stanzas of Holy, Holy Holy. Sin was dealt with, God was glorified, and the people comforted and edified. Contrast that with the way the leadership handled the PW case.There is no comparison."

David Brown was raped by Paul Fredrick Haas, a Catholic priest, in 1961 and Christa Brown was raped by Tommy Gilmore, a SBC youth and children's leader when she was a young teen. Both are involved with SNAP. They give you a picture of what is going on in American Christianity today. It is not a pretty picture.

Bellevue's associate, Paul Williams, sodomized his own young son for 12-18 months while Bellevue was in their zenith under Adrian Rogers' celebrated leadership in Memphis as well as nationally in the SBC and "Love Worth Finding" media ministry. "Dr. Rogers was an adamant supporter of the pro-life movement, had stated that the institution of capital punishment is spiritually ordained, and supported a boycott of Disney because of the company's supposed promotion of homosexuality."

Now I have gotten in trouble for being too specific on the Bratton Report so I will try to tone it down so not to offend Mike. Romans 1:27 says Man (male) shall not lie with man (male) as Man (male) lies with woman ( female). A male ordained associate lay with his on young son (male) in the manner in which he should have been laying with his wife. By night he lay with his son and by day walked the halls of Bellevue Baptist as associate pastor friend of Dr Rogers.

In the context of Romans 1:27 God created women with a secretion of clear odorless lubrication and directed blood flow to allow for normal activity in a loving enjoyable manner. Williams' young son had no benefit of this natural process. Neither was his innocent psyche able to comprehend what was going on. Untold damage is done to such a child. Words should not be able to express the outrage by authorities and Bellevue membership.

Gmmomy said to me "Defend SG all you want....it doesn't matter. SG was still the one confessed to by the predator and SG was the one that made the decision to keep it a secret to everyone at BBC while PW continued to be a first responder for children who may have fallen or been hurt while at church....and PW continued to violate already wounded women.... fully protected by SG and the ones SG chose to tell. Any real leader or protector would have reported him to proper authorities and removed him from his position of power."

Gmmomy and 32years@BBC, Paul Williams is the perpetrator not Gaines. You are making assumptions about Steve Gaines' cover-up and that Rogers would have acted quickly.

All the outrage on all these blogs, except Bratton's, are directed toward Steve Gaines as though he is the perpetrator. There is very little outrage toward Paul Williams, supposedly to protect his son, as though more damage could be done to him.

Yet day after day they attack Steve Gaines, his wife and family. They call them names and make fun of their appearance. Then they go on tangents of emergent churches, styles of worship, female preachers on and on day after day. They turn on one another. Any preacher or pastor who comments will be short lived.

I tell them over and over Steve Gaines inherited the mess Adrian Rogers left them. So they moderate my comments.

Brood of vipers.

I Sympathize With Steve Gaines

Steve and Donna Gaines inherited a terrible mess that no new pastor would ever want to have to deal with. Perhaps in the history of American fundamentalism has a pastor had to carry the burden this man and his wife carry.

While I do not support nor attend Bellevue I sympathize with him and I'm sure he can get along without my sympathy. His theology is no different than Dr. Rogers, so I oppose both men's terrible theology. They have departed from healthy orthodoxy and embraced variations of Arminianism/Semi-Pelagianism. They have followed in the path of Charles Finney's Pelagianism.

However many have been unfair to Steve and Donna by assailing his character and integrity.
They desire to "kick him out" of Bellevue and run him out of town. Others also have contributed and have successfully given them a hard time.

While Gaines made some miscalculated errors which could give him serious negligent criminal charges if Paul Williams were charged there need to be due consideration to the following:

1.) The concealment was probably what any man would have done in the same situation. They may not have left Williams in the same official functions as a counselor and certainly not near children. If Dr Rogers were still living he would have taken the same approach, contrary to what his devotees say. He would not have acted quickly. No one would have challenged Dr Rogers actions if he had done the same thing.

2.) Adrian Rogers left a delicate "china shop" in which he and only he could gracefully maneuver. Steve Gaines with a rugged and awkward personality different from Rogers was like a bull in that china shop. In my opinion there were many who were not comfortable with Dr Rogers' celebrity and quickly fell in love with Gaines bullheaded manliness.

3.) Adrian Rogers hand picked him and if he were still alive and at Bellevue as Pastor-emeritus, he would still be there supporting Gaines. All those presently opposed to Gaines would not be raising a fuss about any of the past two year events.

4.) If Dr Rogers were still here Paul Williams would still be on staff at Bellevue and Chris would be suffering in silence.

These are reasonable and common conclusions.

Ignore A Problem And It Will Go Away

The term "sticking your head in the sand" has come to mean that you choose to ignore a bad situation, and hope that it will go away on its own. The unfortunate reality is that most of us take that action (really, a lack of action) when faced with a challenge. Sticking your head in the proverbial sand also prevents you from finding out more information that might help resolve the issue.

Never in the history of American Christianity has a Church had the problem that Bellevue had (has). This was a criminal act that should never have taken place in the worst areas of America much less in the flagship of the SBC. Bellevue missed the best of opportunities to make a stand against the worst form of homosexuality. Reverend Williams' molestation of his own young son was an unspeakably deviant action that should have been met by an outrage at all levels of the Memphis society.

Reverend Williams should be rotting in a prison confined from the rest of the inmates who would love to do to him what he did to his own son. He should have been arrested and submitted to the same public condemnation that the worst of deviants experience.

Behind the scenes forces must have worked diligently to have kept the news to a bare minimum in all news media outlets. Bellevue has influence that reaches far and deep into Memphis politics.

Dr. Rogers' legacy was protected at the expense of the Church taking a scriptural stand that will leave the SBC impotent in regards to sexual deviancy.

The gates of hell have stood firm against the feeble assault of SBC's flagship, Bellevue Baptist.

The next time you hear Steve Gaines preach against homosexuality, listen to the mockery of those in the MidSouth area. He will have to consider this if he decides to preach against homosexuality.

What if the Holy Spirit impresses him to take a bold stand, Steve Gaines will have to resist.

Oh what a mess Adrian Rogers left for Steve Gaines!

Adrian Rogers And Free Choice

(This post was accidently deleted from an earlier time. I am reentering it here)

Dr. Richard Land said: "I lost a dear friend on November 15, 2005; so did the pro-life movement. Dr. Rogers spoke passionately against abortion. He called the date of the Roe v. Wade opinion, January 22, 1973, "one of the darkest days in American history, a day, in my estimation, like Pearl Harbor, a day that will live in infamy." You could tell when he preached on the issue he was burdened about it and grieved about its legalization." -National Right To Life News

How could Dr. Rogers be so right about pro life issues and yet so wrong about the New Birth? Dr. Rogers defended the right of the unborn to life. They have no choice and are subject to the choice of the mother. The mother has a legal right to choose abortion as an alternative.

The sinner is spiritually dead. Ephesians 2: 1-3 He has no inclination at all toward God and his sinfulness is insurmountable. However Adrian Rogers says this dead man has a choice of Christ as savior. He believed that the dead are given an enabling pre-conversion grace sufficient to make a choice. Orthodox believers believe that the dead sinner must be first quickened (Regenerated) then he exercises faith in Christ confessing and calling on the name of God for Salvation. Believers are elected and the elect like the unborn fetus has no choice.

Wine And Cheese Theology

As I have previously stated this blog is not for the purpose of attacking Adrian Rogers' character. His life was above reproach and he was a gentle man and good pastor. I am addressing his theology.


Perhaps Dr. Rogers was not more wrong than when he referred to Reform advocates as "wine and cheese" theologians. This analogy implies that people are bona fide epicurean gourmands. It makes you think of a snooty restaurant wine steward who looks down his nose at you because you have no ideal as to which wine to choose.


A multitude of choices is what separates the "haves" from the "have nots." The "haves" know the long list of choices that lay before them. Just drive on I-40 and see the large complex behind the three very large lighted crosses at the Appling exit. Such an impressive campus speaks volumes as to ministry choices that are not available to most of the world.

The problem is not so much tangible choices but theological choices. Dr. Rogers apparent Arminianism (falsely called Biblicism) creates a tradition that even God disallows. Choosing not to live as those common people who have no options they create a belief that makes choice possible.

In Luke 18:9-14 two men have much in common they both go to the temple to pray. They both stand to pray. They start with "God". But they are different in that one is proud in that he can compare himself to others less fortunate. He knows that he has perfectly fulfilled the rigid requirements of the law and that he is able to hold his head high in cooperation with a good God.

The other knew that he had no one to compare himself to. He was a sinner undeserving to even pray at a proper place. He stood a far way from the temple ashamed to even hold his head up.
There was nothing to cooperate with God for him. Mercy is all he stood to receive and mercy he received as Christ acknowledged his justification while ignoring the other proud pharisee.

Adrian Rogers' theology was the "wine and cheese" while the Calvinism he looked down his nose at was the answer to the man who realizes that he is utterly lost and his condition insurmountable. Election is not a choice.

Against God's Design - Restore Moral Ability

While spending a week in 1958 with my cousin in Woodbury, Tennessee, my aunt gave us enough money to go see a movie. My first movie was FRANKENSTEIN. Looking back it seems providential that I saw this movie.

(Wikipedia) Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. Shelley wrote the novel when she was 19 years old. The title of the novel refers to a scientist who learns how to reanimate flesh and creates a being in the likeness of man out of body parts taken from the dead. In modern popular culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as "Frankenstein" (especially in films since 1931).

Frankenstein is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. The novel raises many issues that can be linked to today's culture. These issues include the evolution of man and whether technical progress can be self-destructive.

Shelley wrote: "It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs."

Against the Reformers' view that man is dead and without any ability to turn to God, protesters argued that man must be free to exercise his will in choosing salvation. Modern day variations insist that though depraved man has to be able to exercise free will. Like Prometheus and Dr. Frankenstein, sincere in their intentions, there had to be a shortcut to salvation. If the Bible is correct about the sinfulness of man then there had to be a modification that allowed for God's sovereignty to be intact yet allow the integrity of human choice.

Adrian Rogers was an advocate for this view. He preached against the reformation doctrines of grace, even ridiculed and mocked their views.

Adrian Rogers owed Bill Clinton an Apology!

In a sermon: "Will God Impeach America?" Adrian Rogers chastised Bill Clinton for his immoral behaviour and said he hangs his head in shame when our president goes abroad to represent America. Now we bow our head in shame when we realize that Bellevue's own associate under Adrian Rogers sodomized his own son for 12-18 months over 17 years ago without Dr Rogers knowing about it.

Did God build a hedge around Dr Rogers so that he would not know about his associate and allow him to speak so eloquently about America's hedge being lifted? Did God lift the hedge from Bellevue when he took the unrepentant Rogers to heaven for his fiery test? Does Adrian Rogers observe the mess left to Steve Gaines to straighten out?

As I have repeatedly said this is not an attack against Rogers character. His character was impeccable and he was a prince of gentlemen, good husband, father and pastor. However a good man though fervent and effectual can err theologically in ways displeasing to God.

Listen to this sermon and see for yourself, Adrian Rogers' tears in heaven as he bows his head in shame, crying for Abraham to send someone to correct his error.

Abraham says: "They won't listen."